Old Friends Reunited
by 96wishingonastar
Summary: 6 years ago, Ichigo was friends with a girl named Sara, before she was forced to move away. Now she is back in Karakura Town after years of being away.However it is not only Ichigo who has had his life changed dramatically in the years they've been apart
1. Old friends return

Ichigo was in class, not listening to the teacher drone on and on. Uryu, Orihime and Chad were trying to pay attention to what was going on.

"Man, I sometimes wish that stupid alarm went off at times like this. Will this day ever end?" Ichigo thought, he let out a sigh. Ichigo was looking out the window, daydreaming, but the next words the teacher spoke brought Ichigo back to reality.

"OK class! We've got a new class member joining us today," she said. There were a few murmurs among the class. "Our new student actually used to live in Karakura Town a number of years ago so a few of you may remember her," she went on to say.

"_Used to? Is it anyone I know?" _Ichigo pondered.

"Why don't you come on in?" the teacher said looking towards the class door. The shutter slid open. A girl walked in. She had dark brown hair that flowed down to her chest in a number of layers. Her hazel eyes were one of the best features about her, subtle yet beautiful. Ichigo got the sense that she was familiar somehow.

"Now, why don't you introduce yourself?" the teacher said beaming. Ichigo continued to gaze at her as she stood in front of the classroom. Then it clicked. His face turned to shock.

"_Wait a minute, she couldn't be..." _The girl smiled a little.

"Hey there! I'm Sara Kishi. Nice to meet you all," she said. Ichigo was about to say something but Tatsuki beat him to it.

"Sara?" she exclaimed as she shot up out of her seat.

"I take it you know her then Tatsuki?" the teacher asked.

"Of course, we used to train together," Sara answered. Tatsuki ran up to the front and hugged her.

"It's been too long! How long has it been now?" Tatsuki asked.

"6 years now and boy does it feel good to be back," Sara replied. Ichigo also shot out of his seat.

"I take it you know her as well Mr. Kurosaki?" the teacher asked.

"Yo, Ichigo! Long time, no see," Sara said a grin on her face.

"Sara..." he muttered. Sara just smiled back at him.

"Alright now. Back to your seat Tatsuki. Sara, you'll be sitting over there," she said as she pointed to the spot next to Orihime. As the two of them were walking back, they were whispering in low voices, low enough so the teacher couldn't hear, but load enough for Ichigo to make out what they were saying.

"You're so dead!" Tatsuki whispered.

"You mean you right?" Sara whispered back.

"I've always been better than you,"

"No you haven't,"

"Yes I have,"

"Time changes people y'know,"

"It sure does, it's made me a hell of a lot stronger,"

"We'll see about that," Their discussion was about their fighting capabilities but Ichigo knew the two of them were only really teasing. He knew them both too well. Uryu looked at Orihime and then to Chad, both nodding in agreement. Even if Ichigo couldn't, Chad, Orihime and Uryu knew from the moment Sara walked through the door. Even though she was hiding it, there was not doubt: Sara had spiritual pressure.

At break, Ichigo and the others headed to the roof.

"Hurry up Ichigo!" Keigo said as he ran past up the stairs.

"Why? What's going on?"

"Didn't you hear? That new girl and Tatsuki are fighting it out right now on the roof. Isn't that the coolest! Chicks figh-" Keigo was interrupted as Ichigo sprinted up the stairs to find out what was going on. When he reached the roof, there was a large crowd gathered in a circle. Ichigo managed to push his way through, to see what was going on. Sure enough, Tatsuki and Sara were standing opposite each other, like a Mexican stand off.

"You ready Sara? I did come second in the national championships," Tatsuki explained.

"Titles mean nothing. All that matters is who's the strongest. And guess what that's be me!" Sara responded. There were a few murmurs after Sara's last remark.

"Some new kid beating Tatsuki?"

"No way! Even if they did train together years ago, there's no way Tatsuki will lose," Both of them took up their stances, ready to fight. They snapped. Both went straight for the kick but were blocked but the other. Various manoeuvres were performed as though they were both professional martial artists but it was hard to tell who was winning in this fight.

"Woah! That new kid's good!"

"Seriously? No-one's been better than Tatsuki, and she dusts off her attacks like they're nothing,"

"I wouldn't count out Tatsuki just yet, guys. No-one's winning just yet!" After a few more seconds of fighting, both of them managed to land a punch on the other's face, both of them falling back. They lay on the ground panting.

"Are they done yet?"

"If so, then who won?" They got up soon enough. They looked at each other, as though they were enemies, but once they had regained their breath, they walked to the middle and shook hands. Tatsuki smiled. There were some cheers in the crowd, but some people sounded disappointed.

"I think it's fair to say that one was a draw! Man when did you get this good?" Tatsuki asked.

"What do you mean I've always been this good," Sara said winking back. The crowd began to disband itself.

"I've got to go, but I'll see you later Sara!"

"You too Tatsuki, see you later," Ichigo started to walk towards her as the crowd left. She let out a sigh. Uryu, Orihime and Chad were on the roof as well, though not for the fight. They were standing in a circle talking to each other.

"There's no question. Whoever that new girl is, she has spirit energy," Uryu said.

"I think that's fairly obvious. The question is, what on earth kind of spiritual pressure does she have?" Chad said.

"What do you mean by that Chad?" Orihime asked.

"You mean you haven't noticed yet Orihime?" Uryu questioned.

"Sorry, I'm not very good at this! Is there something wrong with her spiritual pressure?" Orihime asked again.

"Not wrong exactly, just...unusual," Chad added.

"Wait, now that you mention it I think I did sense something strange," Orihime said as she out her finger to her chin.

"It's nothing I've ever felt. It's not like a soul reapers or hollows," Chad commented.

"Nor is like the Quincy's or a human's with special abilities like you guys are," Uryu stated.

"And it's not like Keigo or Tatski, humans who only have spirit energy. It's way too controlled than that," Orihime pointed out. They all stood there racking their brains to find some sort of explanation.

"Sara," he said. Sara turned around in surprised to see who it was.

"Ichigo," she said solemnly. "I came back..." she said sweetly. Ichigo smiled. He _had _really missed her. He started to laugh a bit, he walked over to her and tried to hug her, but then he got a kick to the stomach. He was sent flying passing straight through Uryu and the other's circle, stopping their conversation.

"Ichigo?" Orihime asked. Sara marched through the group to get to Ichigo, who had landed upside down against the railings.

"_I thought it was Rukia's job to beat up Ichigo,"_ Uryu thought jokingly. Ichigo got up and dusted himself off.

"Hey! What was that for?" Ichigo asked.

"It's a message from 6 six years ago!" Sara yelled, her hands on her hips. Ichigo looked surprised. "Along with stop crying you complete wimp!...I'll be back before you know it..." her last remark sounded gentler. She then lifted up her wrist and pulled a bracelet from underneath her sleeve.

"_That's...that's the one I gave to her...all that time ago..."_ Ichigo thought.


	2. The Forgotten Past

6 years ago. Tatsuki , Sara and Ichigo were all 9 years old. Ichigo's mother was still alive, and Sara was still living in Karakura Town. All 3 of them had formed a friendship through their martial arts class.

"YA!" Tatsuki and Sara yelled. They had both managed to hit each other simultaneously. They both fell to the floor.

"Now, now. I think that's enough for one day," their sensei said as they gathered themselves off the floor. Most of the kids looked on in amazement, including Ichigo.

"I totally won that one!" Tatsuki said.

"Dream on! That was so mine," Sara replied.

"C'mon you guys! The fight's over now. Can't you stop arguing?" Ichigo asked as he ran up to them both. They both looked each other in the eye, and punched Ichigo together, though not very hard. He fell on his bottom, and then burst into tears.

"You're crying again? It wasn't that hard," Sara said.

"Come on Ichigo, we were holding back honest," Tatsuki added. But Ichigo still cried. Both of them suddenly looked really awkward. But then they heard a sweet voice coming from the other side of the dojo.

"Ichigo," the sweet voice said. Ichigo looked round to see his mother. He instantly stopped crying. He got up and ran towards her, arms outstretched. His mother embraced him.

"He's such a mummy's boy, isn't he?" Tatsuki asked.

"Yeah, totally..." Sara said as her smile faded. "I'm gonna miss that," she added.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Tatsuki enquired. Sara didn't look Tatsuki in the eye.

"I'm...I'm moving away..." she said.

"What? When?" Tatsuki questioned.

"Erm...tonight..."

"What? Why didn't you tell us?"

"I didn't want you guys to worry...I'm sorry..." Sara looked really upset. At first Tatsuki was shocked but then she just smiled.

"I see. That's great!"

"Huh? How so?" Sara asked looking up.

"Cos that means, when we see each other again, we can fight to see who's become stronger!" Sara's face smiled as well.

"Sure! But aren't you going to miss me?"

"Yeah, but, it doesn't matter,"

"Why not?"

"Well, my mother says, even if someone's really far away, you'll always find them, in here," Tatsuki explained, putting her hand on her chest, indicating her heart.

"Till we meet again then," Sara said putting out her hand. Tatsuki took it and shook.

"Yup! I'll miss you!"

"And I will too," she finished. They both looked at each other and smiled.

It was now sunset, and Ichigo and his mother were walking along the river. Ichigo, being the softie he was, was holding onto his mother's hand. A car horn beeped below them on the road. They turned around. They saw someone getting out of the back. It was Sara.

"Ichigo!" she called. She started to run up the embankment to reach them.

"What's up Sara, my dear?" Masaki asked.

"Oh hi, Mrs. Kurosaki. Do you mind if I talk to Ichigo for a bit?" she asked.

"Go ahead," she said smiling her beautiful, sweet smile. Ichigo and Sara walked down the embankment a bit away from Masaki.

"What's the matter Sara?" Ichigo asked.

"I need to tell you something," she said. Ichigo paused for a bit before saying anything else.

"Well? What's going on?" Sara held put her hand on her other arm, almost like she was hiding behind it.

"I'm leaving Ichigo...I'm leaving Karakura Town..."

"What? When?" he said. Tears began to well from his eyes.

"Right now...I didn't want to tell you before, because I knew this would be hard enough as it is...I'm sorry..." she said.

"...But why?" Ichigo finally said. Sara looked up and saw Ichigo holding his arm against his eyes, to try and stop the mass of tears flooding out of his eyes.

"Huh?"

"Why do you have to leave?" he said almost shouting.

"...Well...my dad got a job...it's a really good one. I don't want to leave but I can't help it..." Ichigo was now sobbing.

"I'll miss you too you know! But I'm always going to be right here," she said. Ichigo felt something on his chest. He took his arm away and saw Sara had her hand on his heart, replicating what Tatsuki had done before.

"Now matter where we are, I'll be I matter most to you...in your heart," she said smiling. Ichigo couldn't say a word. Sara dropped her hand, turned around, and began to walk away.

"Wait!" Ichigo suddenly blurted out. Sara looked round. Ichigo was trying to fish something out of his pocket. She walked back over to him. He eventually managed to fish whatever it was out of his pocket, and held in his palm in front of Sara. It was a bracelet. It was made out of black thread, and had yellow and blue beads on it. On a few of the beads wrote the phrase '常に友達 - サラと苺 (Always friends - Sara and Ichigo) in white writing.

"What's this?" she asked.

"I made it a while ago. I wanted to give to you sooner, but I was scared. Go on take it," he said. She took it and observed it.

"I love it!" she said. The car horn honked. Sara's brother, Kyo was leaning out of the back window.

"C'mon! Let's get going Sara!" he called. Sara turned back to Ichigo.

"I'll see you, Ichigo!" She ran down the embankment and got in the back of the car. As it drove away, she could see Ichigo was still crying his eyes out, but was smiling too and waving back. Masaki was also waving, getting the sense of what was going on. Once again she had that amazing smile she wore. It was no wonder Ichigo loved her so much. Sara knew she'd miss that too.

…1 month later, Masaki Kurosaki died.

Ichigo stared blankly at Sara's arm.

"What? Didn't think I'd still be wearing this thing after 6 years?" she asked snapping him back.

"No, I really didn't," he said. She put the bracelet back under her sleeve, in order to protect it.

"So? Did you miss me?" she questioned with a grin on her face. Ichigo suddenly noticed how much she had changed in terms of her personality. She had her arms folded and was leaning to the side, and of course her grin on her face. He could tell just by her body language that she had become harder over the years, and also a more laid back approach to things. He answered Sara's question with a simple gesture. He leaned forward and hugged her, this time not getting kicked.

"Of course I did. You were my best friend," he said. He took his arms off around her. "So, fancy meeting the new crowd?" he asked charismatically.

"Whatever feels good to you," she said not sounding like she was 100% interested. He walked her over to the people she had marched through earlier.

"Guys, this is Sara. She's an old friend of mine, we used to do martial arts together when we were kids," Ichigo explained. Sara looked at the group of friends this was. This really seemed odd. There was a girl who looked absolutely stunning, a really tall tanned guy with enormous muscles, and a skinny looking guy with glasses.

"Hey! I'm Orihime!" she said excitedly.

"The name's Uryu Ishida. Pleasure to meet you Miss. Kishi,"

"And I'm Sado, but you can call me Chad,"

"Hey there. Nice to meet you all," Sara replied.

"So, you seem like you know Tatsuki really well. Did you know her years ago like Ichigo?" Orihime asked.

"Yeah, we're rivals but don't get me wrong, we've been friends for ages," Sara responded. Ichigo noticed how relaxed Sara seemed to be talking to Orihime. Kinda different from her harsh body language earlier.

"I must say that fight you two had was pretty impressive," Uryu commented.

"Thank you," she replied.

"So I take it that you could easily beat Ichigo then," he enquired smugly.

"Hey, come on Uryu you know I-" Ichigo was interrupted by Sara kicking him off again.

"Not a problem," Sara chuckled and put her leg down.

"Why does this always happen to me?" Ichigo muttered to himself as he lay in a crumpled heap up against a wall. Just then the bell rang out.

"Looks like we'd better get back to class," Chad said. They started to walk towards the door that led inside.

"Better hurry up Ichigo. Don't want to be late would you?" Uryu smirked.

"Oh shut up Uryu!" Ichigo said as he got himself off the floor, and began walking back to class with the others.

As Ichigo was sitting in class, he looked over at the desk next to him, Rukia's desk. It made him remember the last time they had spoken, back in the soul society. He let out a sigh.

"Where are you hiding? Come on out here!" bellowed a voice outside. Everyone in the class instantly looked confused.

"I know that voice!" Uryu said, also shocked. It was Renji.

"Ichigo Kurosaki, I know you're up there, don't pretend like your not!" Renji yelled. Several people gathered at the window.

"What?" Ichigo exclaimed.

"Ichigo you know that guy? He's all hippied out!" Keigo said.

"Oh that's very retro! Kurosaki is any-" the teacher tried to ask as Renji continued to shout.

"He's a relative!" Ichigo said as he rushed out to confront Renji. About a minute later, Sara could tell who Renji was, now that he was out of his gegai - he was a soul reaper, and a powerful one at that.

"_This spirit energy. If I had to make an estimated guess, I'd say he was around a lieutenant level,"_ Sara thought. Just then a Hollow appeared next to the school. _"OK Ichigo, let's see what you got…" _The hollow got closer and closer to the school. Soon enough it was at the window. Orihime got ready to use her Shun-Shun-Rika. Just then Ichigo appeared and killed it. Sara was shocked. _"I knew had soul reaper powers, and he had strong spirit energy from the way he leaked it out so appallingly, but man, that zanpaktou was enormous! Is that really the size of his spiritual pressure? More importantly, I want to know where the hell he got his powers from…"_

"Yes! Way to go!" Orihime's remark brought Sara back to the present.

"What are you doing Orihime?" asked the teacher who was standing right behind her. Orihime just laughed nervously and soon everyone else was laughing.

That night, Sara was sitting having dinner in her apartment alone, when suddenly a ring sounded. It wasn't Sara's phone or home phone. She went into her room to the in ear phone that was on her desk. She placed it in her ear, and answered the call.

"Hello?" she asked.

"SARA!" screamed a high pitch voice belonging in a girl, on the other end of the conversation. Sara instantly ripped it out of her ear to stop herself from becoming deafened. After the screaming stopped she put it back in.

"Do you have to be so loud?" she exclaimed.

"Was I being loud?" the voice asked.

"Yes! Very!"

"Oh, sorry!"

"Man, I swear…OK what do you want?"

"Oh yeah I almost forgot. You've been summoned,"

"What _now_?"

"Yeah. He knows it was your first day back and all but he said to go ahead and call you anyway," Sara let out a sigh.

"Fine I'll be there as soon as I can,"

"YAY! Can't wait to see you!" Sara then ended the conversation and put the ear piece back on the desk.

"_Seriously? Of all the times why now?...Oh well, guess I have no choice in the matter,"_ she thought. She went over to the cupboard and pulled out a rucksack. She then began packing some spare clothes and some essentials, ready to leave town that night.

After Sara's departure of Karakura Town that night, Ichigo and the others, including Renji encountered 3 people with strange abilities. That night, Orihime disappeared through a strange gate.


	3. The Disapperances

The next day, Ichigo, Uryu, Chad and Renji were around the back of the school talking about last night's events with Orihime. After Ichigo yelled at Uryu and Renji for arguing, Chad spoke.

"What worries me is what happened with the girls earlier," They each recalled when Ichigo tried to ask Tatsuki where Orihime may have gone.

"Hey, have you girls seen Orihime?" Ichigo asked.

"Orihime? Is she a new student or something?" Tatsuki questioned.

"Oh very funny. You know who I'm talking about, Orihime,"

"Well I sure don't know anyone by that name. Are you feeling okay Ichigo?" Ichigo and the others just looked shocked. "Oh, there was something I wanted to ask you. Do you where Sara is?"

"You mean she's not here?"

"No, she isn't. And she didn't pick her phone this morning either. I mean it's only been one day since she got back, do you know anything?"

"Sorry, I don't," They then snapped back to reality.

"It appears as though their memory of Orihime has been completely erased," Chad said.

"The same thing happened to everyone back when Rukia disappeared," Uryu stated.

"That's it!" Ichigo exclaimed.

"What's it?" Renji asked.

"The fact that someone's gone to all the trouble of using memory replacement on these kids, means that they knew sooner or later we'd come looking for her. And it also proves Orihime's disappearance was no accident. Somebody has kidnapped her," Ichigo explained.

"Hold on a sec. What about that other girl, Sara was it? She's missing as well. Do you think she's tied up in all of this?" Renji asked.

"Well Tatsuki and the others seem to remember her so it's too early to say if they have or not. However, I do think it's strange that she's gone without a trace after only one day. Especially as it seems that no-one's been able to contact her," Uryu commented.

"It does. But I think we need to focus on Orihime right now. There could be a logic explanation behind her whereabouts, but we know Orihime's isn't," Chad continued.

"Alright, then I think we need to go back to Orihime's apartment and take another look. There might be some clues we missed somehow," Uryu said.

"Good idea. Come on let's do it!" Ichigo stated standing up. "And after we get Orihime back, we can try and find out where in hell Sara's got to," he added. The rest of them stood up and Chad and Uryu began to walk away with Ichigo.

"Hey wait! You mean right now? I thought you guys were supposed to be in class?" Renji enquired.

"Oh lighten up. This is more important than school," Ichigo said. As they were walking to Orihime's apartment Uryu thought to himself.

"_I wonder if Ichigo finally managed to pick up on Sara's spiritual pressure in the time she was here? Also, I don't sense her spiritual pressure at all in Karakura Town anymore. I wonder where she could be..."_

That day, Ichigo and the others went on a wild trip, taking them pretty much all over town, trying to track down Orihime. They eventually ended up at Urahara's shop, where they were told to head to the museum that night. They had no choice but to obey them. After they left Urahara called out.

"Oh Yoruichi" "Yes?" she asked as she popped her cat head round the door. She then strolled in. "Hey there! I never got to ask you how it went down last night. You mind telling me about it?" he asked. Yoruichi sat down next to him. "Hm. I was wondering when you where going to get around to that," she said. "So, how'd it go?" he asked again. Yoruichi remembered the previous night as she explained what had happened. She walked in to an apartment in her normal form, after having picked the lock, which was completely dark. Yoruichi had a look around the various rooms in the apartment. "I went to her apartment, but there was no sign. There was even some clothes missing from her wardrobe, but she had left her phone behind," It was apparent now that Yoruichi was walking around inside Sara's apartment. "However, there was some spiritual pressure left behind, so I tried tracing it," Yoruichi was running through Karakura Town in the dead of night, trying to follow her spiritual pressure. She eventually ended up at the mountains that were on the side of Karakura Town. "The spiritual pressure ended up leading me to the mountains on the outskirts of town. Then weirdly…" Yoruichi walked into an open space in the trees, but then stopped and looked shocked. "…Her spiritual pressure vanished," "Vanished?" Urahara asked, bringing Yoruichi out of her flashback. "Yes. It was as if she had completely left the world of the living," "But that wouldn't be possible. If she had then the only way she could of left would be through a senkimon, and there none were opened in this vicinity last night," "That's what seemed so odd," "Are you sure it really vanished, and not just covered up?" "Do you really think I would make such a foolish error?" Urahara paused before answering. "No, I'm just being sure," "Anyways, how's your end holding up? Have you been able to analyse the spiritual pressure yet?" "No. I've not been able to indentify it at all. I've never seen anything quite like it." Yoruichi let out a sigh. "This certainly is one hell of mystery," she added. "You can say that again. I just hope it doesn't turn out to anything that we shouldn't of tried to find out," "Well if it does, remember, I wasn't the one who came up with the idea of trying to analyse someone after only being here a day." Urahara just smiled at her remark. Over the next 24 hours, Ichigo and the others had had a pretty eventful few hours. Eventually they had ended up sitting by the river, with Orihime back, but Chad still missing. During that time, no-one had even questioned the whereabouts of Sara, being too preoccupied with the events that were already going on. After some discussion, or arguing, Uryu spoke. "What get's me is these games of theirs. Why don't they get to the point rather than making us waste our time by running around," There was a pause. "There's a lot we don't know," Ichigo commented. "Oh yeah, that reminds me," Orihime said. "You remember something about your kidnappers?" Ichigo asked excitedly. "No, but there was something I wanted to ask you guys," she said as everyone instantly got depressed. "Well what is it Orihime?" Uryu asked.

"What happened to Sara? I mean I know she hasn't turned up yet since the first day, but she's still missing. Do you guys know what happened to her?"

"We decided that we would look for her after finding you Orihime, but then things got complicated. Once this is all over, we'll try and see if we can find her, but right now, we need to focus on our current situation," Uryu explained.

"I see…" she responded.

"Hey that's a point! Do you think she was snatched up by those guys?" Ichigo questioned.

"That would be stupid. She disappeared before all this crazy stuff happened. What would be the point of taking her, when we didn't even know what had happened to Orihime?" Renji said.

"I guess so," Ichigo said. "Damn it! Where the hell could she have gone?" he almost yelled.

"Ichigo…" Orihime muttered.

"Oh shut up! Just because you have a weird thing for her doesn't mean you have to get all mushy on us!" Renji remarked.

"Hey shut up you idiot!"

"What? I'm only telling it like it is. I know how you got all teary eyed the other day when she came back!" Renji exclaimed.

"And just what the hell has that got to do with it?" Ichigo shouted.

"Both of you shut up!" Uryu called.

"Arguing like this isn't gonna get us anywhere!" Orihime added. Renji and Ichigo turned away from each other. Orihime looked at Ichigo as he stared at the ground.

"_Wow. I think Ichigo is really concerned about her. I know I would be, if my best friend from 6 years ago had come back and left without saying anything. It must be really hard to accept that she's left him again…"_ she thought. The group then witnessed fireworks appear in the sky, along with a massive gate. They ran closer to it to see whether it was another illusion. Suddenly, the gate opened causing things to get pulled inside. The three mod souls were standing on the ledge on the gate. The group had to hold on to things to stop themselves from getting sucked in.

"YOU DIDN'T SEW ME TOGETHER VERY WELL!" Kon yelled as he was the first one to get sucked in. Ichigo yelled about how they defiant they were, but then Ririn showed them that she had Urahara's hat. Ichigo was shocked. Then, the van that Uryu was hanging on to got pulled up, along with him. Next, Orihime let go of the lamppost she was holding on. Ichigo jumped to catch her. Renji was the last to start getting pulled towards the gate. Ichigo passed Orihime to Renji, and tried to attempt his bankai. A huge mass of spiritual pressure emanated from him, as he tried to build his strength up.

"Ban-" Ichigo yelled, but he couldn't perform his bankai.

"What's the matter Ichigo?" Renji shouted. He was then hit on the head by a lamppost. They all started to fade into the gate.

"ICHIGO!" a voice screamed, but Ichigo couldn't tell who had said it. It was too late. He was too far into the portal.

The five of them woke up, in a desolate place. They all managed to meet up once again, and found that Chad had been captured, and was now at risk of being killed. They all entered a fight with the three mod souls. After a short while, another red portal appeared above them again. Ichigo once again tried to release his bankai, but couldn't master the strength to summon it. Just then, the glass around Chad broke. They all rushed up to see him. It was then revealed to them that the whole scheme had been designed to help strengthen them and to point out their weaknesses. They felt annoyed, but they understood.

"But that was not the only reason we decided to do this," Urahara went on to say.

"It wasn't? What else were you trying to do?" Ichigo asked.

"It'll be easier if I show you rather than having to explain it to you," he said. He then put his hand next to his mouth, as if he was about to shout. Everyone looked on with confusion. "Listen! You can come out now! We're not an enemy, I promise!" he yelled. Everyone looked at him blankly, but turned to where Urahara was looking. Out from behind one of the rocks, someone walked out: It was Sara. She had a mean look on her face.

"Sara?" Uryu yelled. Ichigo suddenly realised it was her who had called out his name before.

"Hold on a second, you guys didn't tell me she had spiritual pressure!" Renji commented.

"She has spiritual pressure?" Ichigo exclaimed. Everyone looked at him in disbelief.

"We didn't tell you because we didn't think you were this dumb! You seriously had no clue had spirit energy?" Uryu asked.

"Err…no," he said. Everyone couldn't believe what they were hearing. Ichigo turned back to Sara who hadn't moved a muscle.

"Hey! Where have you-" he started to say as he tried to walk towards her but Urahara put a hand out to stop him.

"What is it?" he asked.

"There's something I need to do first. Don't worry it won't take long, and trust me, you'll want to see this," Urahara explained as he walked in front of Ichigo.

"I'm sorry to do this, but it's really necessary," he called. He then turned to Kurodo who nodded. He then transformed in Renji and started to run towards her, blade in hand. Sara's eyes were full of shock.

"Urahara! What the hell do you think you're doing?" Ichigo roared.

"Just be patient," Urahara explained. They all looked back at Sara. Kurodo wasn't far away now. Ichigo couldn't help but feel sick. But then just before Kurodo reached her, she put her hands together in front of her stomach, creating an upside down triangle. Just then a large spiritual pressure came out of her. It shone brightly. When at last they could see again, they saw that Kurodo had stopped, in as much shock as they all were when they saw Sara. She had completely transformed. Her hair was now up in a high ponytail. She wore a black top that was short sleeved and showed off her boobs a bit with gold trimmings. She also wore on her legs black leggings and there was a holder on her right thigh with a dagger in it. On her arms, from her writs to almost her elbow, was armour that was black, but had gold intervals in arrow shapes, much like Soi Fon's zanpaktou release but without the huge finger. The same armour also ran down from her kneecap to foot, as the form of boots. No-one had seen anything like it before. They were all stunned. Just then, she held out her hand towards Kurodo, and a huge gust of wind pushed him back.

"Sara…." Ichigo muttered in shock of what he was seeing. It appeared that it was not only Ichigo who had changed in the 6 years they had been apart.


	4. Friend Or Foe?

Everyone stared at Sara in pure amazement. Even Urahara was absolutely stunned by what she had become. None of them feared her at all, but they were just astounded with how easily she had sent Kurodo flying, and the way she now looked. Sara's expression told them that she wasn't happy with the way she had been forced to reveal her form. Sara then let out a sigh and somehow flew towards where Ichigo and the others with relative ease. She landed a little way from them as they stood there gazing at her. Urahara pulled down his hat and spoke.

"Well, this sure is interesting!"

"Interesting? Would someone like to tell me what the hell is going on?" Ichigo demanded.

"Why are you asking us? We're in about as much in the dark as you are," Uryu stated.

"Well thanks Uryu for clearing up that for me!" Ichigo replied sarcastically.

"I was only answering your dumb question! You don't have to yell at me for not giving an answer I don't even know!" Uryu yelled.

"Woah, whoa! Hold your horses guys. Let's all keep it down a bit shall we?" Urahara said. Uryu and Ichigo scowled at each other before turning away. "Now, Sara, would you care to explain to all of us?"

"Before that, I've got some questions! One, where the hell are we? Second, how do you know my name? Thirdly…who the hell are you, you, you, you, and you?" Sara asked, pointing to Renji, Urahara and the three mod souls. After a short pause, Renji reluctantly explained.

"I'm Renji Abari. I'm the lieutenant of Squad 6, of the 13 Court Guard Squads of the soul society. I've been positioned here to take over the previous soul reaper positioned here. This is Kiskue Urahara. He owns a small shop, but also helps us guys out with anything technical that we need. This right here is the basement,"

"_This, is a basement?" _Sara thought.

"These are mod souls created by Urahara. They're-" Renji went on to say but was interrupted by Sara.

"Spare me the lecture, I know what a mod soul is!" she said.

"OK then. Now that that's resolved, how about you answer our question?" Urahara questioned. Sara let out a sigh.

"I'm Sara Kishi. And I have the power…" everyone looked on with baited breath. "…to control the four elements; earth, air, fire and water," she explained. Everyone looked at her with jaws dropped.

"Is that true…?" Urahara enquired.

"Well, yeah! Why the hell would I not tell the truth?" Sara snapped. After a few moments, Uryu spoke.

"So that, explains how you got over here," he said recalling what happened a minute ago. "You used your power to manipulate the air around you, and gave you the ability to fly," he went on to say.

"Very impressive. You managed to deduce that much after only seeing it once…I expected much from a Quincy!" Sara replied.

"What? You know about Quincy's?" Orihime asked.

"Yeah I do. The cross on your wrist is a bit of a big giveaway," she said looking at his Quincy cross.

"So let me get this straight. You're a human who has the power to control the elements, right?" Renji asked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sara said scornfully.

"Well, it's just that, your spiritual pressure doesn't seem all that human. It feels more like a spirit," he explained.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to add that part," Sara responded. "Unlike Quincy's, my power resides in my soul form. Meaning I have to transform into this form in order to access my powers,"

"So does that mean you're like a soul reaper?" Chad enquired.

"No. Unlike a soul reaper, my chain of fate is still connected, therefore I'm still human," she went on to say.

"Really? Is that even possible?" Uryu questioned.

"Well, apparently so," she said.

"Just one more question," Urahara. Sara glared at him. "We know what you can do…but who exactly are you?" Everyone stared at her intently, waiting for her response.

"If I'm honest…as far as I'm aware I'm just an ordinary high school student," she said. They continued to stare at her in a really odd way. "What?" she yelled after a few more seconds of gawking at her.

"Are you serious? You know how to change into a soul yet you don't know what you are?" Renji exclaimed.

"Nope," she said blankly. They were all dumbfounded with her answer.

"That aside, I think ultimately there is only one thing we really want to know," Urahara said. They all looked round at him. "And that is…whether we can call you a friend, or an enemy," They turned back to Sara. After a few moments she let out a sigh.  
>"Well, if a Quincy is willing to team up with you soul reapers…then I guess I might as well!" she said. Everyone smiled a little, now that they had a new member to the team.<p>

"Sara, I…" Ichigo began to say.

"Ichigo," Sara said smiling. Then her face dropped into a sinister glare. She then kicked him hard, and sent him flying. He landed but had to grab onto the top of the rock, to stop himself from falling.

"Sara! What the hell was that for!" he yelled.

"Since when did you have soul reaper powers! Even more so, how the hell do you a zanpaktou that freaking huge?" she yelled.

"That's a bit of a long story," he replied as he got up.

"I'm listening!" she answered.

"Why don't we go upstairs in a bit. We can explain that later," Urahara explained. Sara let out an exasperated sigh.

"Fine then," she responded as Ichigo came back to join the others.

"All that aside. Did you know that Yoruichi was here conducting an investigation?" Urahara asked.

"Yeah? I was wondering what had her so concerned," Ichigo answered.

"I don't know all the details, but an unexplained phenomenon has everyone concerned," Urahara added.

"What sort of phenomenon?" Uryu enquired.

"So far, all that I know is that it was serious enough to justify the Soul Society closing the passage to the world of the living," Urahara went on to say.

"I know! I bet it's got something to do with the Aizen incident, doesn't it?" Renji commented.

"Doubt it. Aizen got away with the Hōgyoku but he's still gonna need a lot of time before he can mature it enough to utilise its full power. He probably won't surface or make a move for a while, which is good, cause right now, you're too weak to counter him," Urahara said. "But Ichigo…"

"What is it?" he asked. Urahara dropped to one knee.

"Soon enough the issue of the Hōgyoku will return and we will not be able to deal with it, without your bankai. Will you try to learn to use it again? I'm asking you to do this for me," Urahara bowed his head.

"Alright…I'll do it-"

"An excellent choice, good decision, thanks so much!" Urahara interrupted.

"Huh?"

"That guy could see a refrigerator to an Eskimo..." Uryu muttered.

"_Hōgyoku? Aizen? Bankai? Yoruichi? Just how much are they gonna have to explain to me?" _

"Alright then Ichigo, why don't we get straight to it and start cultivating your situational analysis and critical judgement skills," Urahara said.

"Err…err," Ichigo murmured.

"Ichigo, you really need to use your head more. You let your opponents take advantage of you far too often," Urahara explained.

"Sounds like typical Ichigo to me…" Sara commented.

"Will you shut up?" he shouted.

"Why 'cause you hate the truth?" Sara said and then laughed a bit. Ichigo growled.

"Ironically the member of your group the best at that kind of critical thinking is actually Uryu, the one who doesn't even have any powers any more," Ichigo turned his head to look at him.

"It's true, right Uryu?" Urahara enquired. After a short pause Uryu spoke.

"Yes. I lost my Quincy powers while fighting in the Soul Society,"

"Why you! Why the hell didn't you tell us?" Ichigo questioned.

"All those times you didn't use your powers was because you couldn't?" Renji exclaimed.

"Is this really true, Uryu?" Orihime asked.

"You freaking idiot!" Ichigo said.

"What was that?" Uryu asked.

"By doing that you put every one of us in danger. I'm not trying to say that you endangered us by not having any powers. Fighting as a team, we all have different things we contribute, and you were a huge help there in the Soul Society. But if you lost your powers that isn't something that you should of kept secret from the rest of us. We would have been a stronger team if we'd known. Hey, you have to trust your friends enough to tell them the truth. You know that," Ichigo lectured.

"Ichigo…" Uryu said. Just then Ichigo disappeared from view, and Sara replaced it. She had kicked him, again.

"Don't tell me you actually tried to fight the Soul Society?" she yelled. Ichigo jumped up quickly.

"Yeah, but it's a bit more complicated than that!" he yelled back.

"How could be so dumb? You're an even bigger idiot than I thought!"

"Do you think she'll stop attacking Ichigo?" Orihime asked.

"From the looks of things, I doubt it," Renji replied.

"OK now. I think Ichigo's had enough for one day!" Urahara said. Sara just crossed her arms. "I think that concludes our lesson for today. I think we should go upstairs and have something to eat. I'm guessing by now, Tessai has whipped us up something tasty!"

"But an entire town just got destroyed, what are you gonna do about that?" Ichigo questioned. Ririn just giggled.

"You should know we'd never do something like that. That was just a big hologram!" she explained.

"Well where did all the kids from our school end up?" Ichigo implored.

"They're probably waking up now..." she added.

Later, Ichigo and the others had finished explaining everything to Sara about Rukia, Aizen and the various powers they all had. Also, Urahara introduced them all to their new enemies-the bounts.

"So I've been thinking," Urahara said as he closed his fan. "Ririn, I think you should go to Ichigo's place,"

"Huh? Come on!" Ririn moaned.

"What are you talking about?" Ichigo asked.

"I think it would be best if Chad, Orihime, and you had a little extra support," Urahara explained.

"But…why?" Orihime questioned.

"These mod souls will be very helpful because they all contain reishi sensors," he continued.

"Sensors?" Orihime questioned.

"Specifically designed to detect reishi waves. In other words it appears the enemy is now targeting living humans and seeing how you four have such high abilities, I'm sure they'll look on you as very tempting prey. Of course there's no guarantee they'll notice you, so we must do what we can to find them," he said.

"Hm. I see…Where does that leave me?" Uryu enquired.

"Yeah and me. I don't recall my name being said, so you're just gonna leave me or something?" Sara added.

"Well you see Uryu as I was trying to explain…"

"You don't have any abilities any more!" Ririn butted in. Uryu was stunned and then became depressed.

"Oh yeah that's right huh?" Ichigo added.

"As for you Miss Kishi, I think it would be best if you stayed here a while," Urahara said.

"What?" she exclaimed.

"Not only would it be easier for you to be able to join in but it gives us a chance to become more comfortable with you, and you with us. Plus, if you'll let us, we can take a look at your powers,"

"Wait a minute! I only met you an hour ago, and now you want me to come live here?"

"Oh come on, I'm not that bad!" he said cheerfully.

"That's not the point!" she replied.

"Don't worry, Sara. Mr. Urahara is a nice person and we all trust him," Orihime added.

"That's all well and good but it just seems a bit creepy to me. I'd probably be more comfortable admitting that I'm worse than Ichigo," she said.

"Is that so?" he asked bringing his face closer.

"On second thoughts, the old man is a whole lot better…" she responded. Ichigo looked downhearted.

That night, after the three mod souls went home with their new homes, Sara went back to her apartment to get her things.

"_Should I really do this? Am I getting too involved? Of I move in with them, then it'll look more suspicious when I have to leave….Oh well. Masuyo is just going to have to deal with it. There's nothing I can do. I want to protect my friends." _

She slid open the shop door, with her rucksack on her back. She then went the back, to the living quarters within the shop.

"Sara! Glad you could make!" Urahara exclaimed. Sara just let out a sigh. "Jinta! Would you come here a second?" Urahara called. A few seconds later Jinta entered the room.

"Yeah boss?" he asked.

"Jinta, would you mind taking our guest to her room?" Urahara requested.

"Sure thing. Come with me," he responded. Sara followed Jinta down the corridor. "I'm afraid you're gonna have to sleep in the same room as the moocher, but if you want we can move you to a different room, if you feel more comfortable," Jinta explained.

"Moocher?" Sara asked. Jinta opened the door to one of the rooms and they both went inside it. Inside, it was like the rest of the design of the living quarters, but there was a window on the wall she was standing opposite. There were two beds in the room, one was pristine but the other had some stuff on the bottom.

"So you're back are you?" a voice said. Sara turned her head to see Renji was on the other side of the room, sitting down looking at his soul pager.

"That's the moocher?" Sara enquired.

"Yeah, so if you need to change rooms then let us know," Jinta added.

"Shut up!" Renji said as he closed his soul pager and stood up.

"No, don't its fine here. Thanks Jinta," Sara said as she went over to her bed and put her bag down next to it.

"Dinner's gonna be ready soon, OK," Jinta said as he walked out.

"OK then," Sara responded. He closed the door behind him. Sara let out a sigh.

"So you're an old friend of Ichigo, right?" Renji asked as he sat down on his bed. She looked up at him.

"Yeah. I used to live here in Karakura Town 6 years ago. We used to train together at the local dojo. Even though he's gained the power of the soul reaper, I can still kick his arse!" Sara said. Renji chuckled a bit.

"But it seems like you two are good friends," Renji added.

"We are…Ichigo is…one of the best friends I've ever had," she said as she clutched the bracelet underneath her top. She then got up and started to unpack the things in her rucksack.

"So, are you going to show us your skills soon then?" Renji asked.

"Huh?"

"Well, although we know what kind of power you have, but I think it would be best if we see it in action. You know, to find out how strong you are,"

"Well…I'm not much of a show-off if I'm honest. But I suppose I can do something," she said as she finished taking out all of the things she needed to from her rucksack.

"Hey moocher! Miss Kishi! Dinner's ready!" Jinta yelled. Sara walked over to the door, and noticed Renji hadn't moved.

"Hey, you coming?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'll be there in a minute," Renji said. Sara then slid the door open and walked down the corridor. After she had left, Renji got up and looked over at her things. He noticed a small silvery thing next to her pillow on the side that Renji couldn't of seen from where he was sitting. He picked it up and observed it. It was an earpiece.

"_Why would someone like her, need something like this...? There seems to be too many unanswered questions with her…"_ he thought as he put the earpiece back where it was and went to join the others for dinner.


	5. Round 1 Sara Vs Orihime

The same night that Ichigo and the others went home with their bount sensing mod souls, a bount showed up. Ichigo went to see who it was, and caught her trying to suck out the soul of a living human. Ichigo then confronted this bount, but couldn't seem to defeat it. Then, when things looked dire for Ichigo, someone came to his rescue; it was Rukia. She then took on the bount herself but she proved to be a formidable opponent. Rukia was about to be blasted by a ball of fire when another bount turned up to take the female bount away. Just then, Chad, Orihime and their mod souls turned up and were delighted with Rukia's return. She then proceeded to tell them how she had been positioned in Karakura Town once again. They then all decided it would be best to go back to Ichigo's place and try and figure out what was going on.

"Oh that feels so good Rukia!" Kon said as he curled up on Ichigo's bed.

"Look at him. Not a care in the world. Must be nice!" Ichigo commented.

"So what do we do? Anyone have any suggestions?" Rukia asked.

"Well we have these three guys to help us locate the bounts, but even if that works, I'm not sure the bounts will sit down and talk with us. Never mind capturing them," Ichigo explained.

"Hmm," Chad murmured.

"Aside from trickery, what power do the bounts have?" Rukia enquired.

"Well like us the enemy seem to have different powers that differ from one individual to the next, which is a headache! It's hard to know what will work," Kurodo analysed.

"That's for sure. My zanpaktou had no effect on that fire monster Goethe, and that other guy's a complete mystery. We need to learn a hell of a lot more of we won't have a clue how to fights these guys," Ichigo exclaimed.

"Whatever we do, we've got to do it fast before anybody else gets their soul sucked out," Orihime said worryingly.

"I know that. I'm open for suggestions if you got 'em," Ichigo grumbled. "What about the Soul Society? Didn't they give you any information on these bounts?" he questioned Rukia.

"Huh?" Rukia came out with.

"Well you were sent about the same time as when they showed up. They must of told you something," Ichigo expressed.

"No, I'd never even heard of them until that first encounter. The Soul Society may know something about them but they certainly didn't tell me," Rukia declared.

"Well that sucks! Now what?" Ichigo pondered. Just then, Rukia soul pager started to ring. Rukia got it out of her pocket to answer it.

"Hello?" Rukia asked.

"Rukia! Is that really you?" Renji yelled down the phone. Rukia held it away from here due to the noise he was making. "I just heard from the captain that you got reassigned here. That's great!"

"Wait a second, Rukia? Is that the one you and Ichigo have me lecturing me about Renji?" questioned a voice on the other end of the phone. Rukia didn't recognise it at all. She wondered who it could be that seemed to know about her.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah it is! Listen Rukia, I'm coming over!" Renji shouted down the phone again.

"Coming over? Renji-!" Rukia began to call but they were interrupted by a noise downstairs. All of them went downstairs and saw Renji on top of Isshin and half of the wall missing.

"Oh no! Dad!" Uyzu exclaimed. Ichigo stared at him in disbelief. Renji then looked up.

"Hey, hi Rukia!" he said. The doorbell rang.

"I'll get it!" Karin confirmed, leaving the rest of them to argue amongst themselves. As she walked down the corridor to the door, she spoke. "Gee those guys sure are a handful. I wonder who could be visiting at this time at night." She opened the door. In the doorway stood a teenage girl with brown hair, a red top on with jeans and knee high black boots. At first she didn't know who the girl was but after she spoke, she realised.

"Hey there Karin! Long time no see! Say, is Ichigo in? I need to have a talk with him," she said. It clicked. It was Sara.

"Whoa…Sara?" Sara smiled back at her.

In the kitchen there was still a commotion but Karin interrupted them.

"Hey dad! Look who's here!" she called as she dragged Sara into the room. Everyone stopped arguing for a bit.

"Sara?" Isshin questioned.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Ichigo asked.

"Well Renji said Rukia had turned up, so I wanted to come over and see for mys-" she began to say but was interrupted as Isshin suddenly grabbed her in a hug.

"SARA! It's been so long! How you been? What's going on? How big are your boo-" Sara just kicked him back.

"Back off you lousy old pervert!" she shouted as he went flying straight into a wall.

"Sara!" Uyzu called.

"Hey Uyzu!"

"Excuse me, who are you?" Rukia enquired. Sara turned round to look at her.

"So must be Rukia right?" Sara queried. Rukia looked a bit confused.

"I see. So you're an old friend of Ichigo's," Rukia summed up.

"Yeah, but I didn't get a chance to see the family yet, hence why they were bouncing off the walls. Especially the new comer," Sara replied as she looked down at Kon who was in a heap on the floor after she had kicked him to the ground for trying to get into her chest.

"Right. And you control the four elements. That's quite an impressive power. Care to show off a bit?" Rukia questioned.

"Well Urahara wanted me to do that tomorrow so I suppose you can come along too. Man, I swear I'm turning into more of a freak show than I could ever dream," Rukia chuckled a bit at Sara's reply.

"OK you guys have introduced yourselves. Can we get back to the subject now?" Ichigo moaned. Sara gave him an evil stare.

"Fine, we'll talk more later," Rukia replied.

"Thank you. Now where was I? There are these guys called bounts who have been showing up," Ichigo recited. Renji let out a yawn to show his lack of interest. Ichigo cleared his throat.

"We don't know what they're up to and we don't know what powers they have. But there's no doubt that these bounts are very dangerous," Ichigo claimed.

"What are you, an idiot?" Renji told him. Ichigo gave him an odd look. "You're telling me that in your opinion, these bounts are probably dangerous. After fighting them that's all you figured out?" Ichigo jumped off his chair.

"Hey, I don't listen to people who don't know the difference between a window and the front door!" Ichigo yelled.

"Quite trying to change the subject this isn't about me!" Renji yelled back.

"I'm not changing anything you blockhead!" They continued to argue as Rukia spoke.

"This is odd," Rukia stated.

"What's so odd?" Chad asked.

"Normally, the ratio used would be one soul reaper sent out for 50,000 humans. But including the substitute, there are 3 of us here. I think it's apparent that we were sent here as a response to this problem and we're going to have to deal with it," Rukia explained. Ichigo and Renji finished arguing.

"So you guys come up with a plan for tomorrow?" Ichigo asked. Sara just punched the two of them in the face.

"Idiots! Will you quit arguing already?" she shouted.

"Say's you!" the both answered back.

"SHUT UP!" She punched them in the face again.

The next day, the others returned to school including Rukia, having put memory replacements on the kids. It was lunchtime and they were all outside enjoying their break when the mod souls suddenly picked up on the bounts spiritual pressure. They all ran off, except Uryu, and Ichigo got into his soul reaper form and Sara into her soul form. It was the first time she had seen Sara in her form but she didn't ask any questions as such, focusing too much on running. When they got to where the spiritual pressure was they saw it was the man from yesterday.

"You again!" the man said as he dropped the woman he was holding.

"There's something I wanna ask you," Ichigo called.

"What is it?" the man sighed.

"Don't try to lie. You are known as a bount aren't you?" Ichigo claimed.

"Why yes," he responded.

"Where's the girl from yesterday?"

"No comment,"

"What did you come here for?"

"No comment,"

"So you're involved in some scheme you refuse to reveal?"

"I won't comment on that either. Since we're conducting interviews, do you mind if I ask you a question?" Ichigo tensed up. "The soul of a human being or that of a soul reaper. Which do you suppose tastes better? Although if I had to base it on smell alone, I'd say your friend in the amour is most…delicious," he answered licking his lips.

"What was that?" Sara asked angrily. Ichigo grunted and put his hand on his sword, ready to draw it. The man revealed his snake-like doll. They all managed to fight off the hoard of snakes though Sara was sticking to her dagger that she kept in her pocket rather than using her powers. To make the situation worse, Uryu showed up, making himself a human target, and gave himself up when the woman was threatened.

"Humans are such delightfully whimsical creatures!" the man said as he licked some of Uryu's blood of his finger. When he said it, Sara felt rage pouring out of her.

"_How DARE he? If someone doesn't attack this guy soon I'm gonna do it regardless of the consequences!" _she thought. Orihime noticed how tense Sara seemed. Just then a huge fireball clouded their view. After it cleared a bit, they could see that the woman had returned, Uryu in her arms. Ichigo felt annoyed that she had come back.

"It's that woman again!" Rukia commented.

"What's the deal with her?" Ichigo questioned. _"Wait a second. Fire! Sara can control this fire can't she?"_ He looked at her. He could tell what she was thinking by her facial expression. _"Right, she can't risk performing an attack with her own fire. It would put Uryu in danger!" _The female bount left, leaving her doll to fight the others.

"Finish things? Alright," he replied. As the doll tried to attack Sara yelled.

"I don't think so!" As he performed a flame attack, Sara hit him back with a flurry of ice. The two of them went into a small battle situation, but Sara found the doll much stronger than she had anticipated. Ichigo managed to cut through the fire balls that Sara had missed. Some of the fire cleared away and revealed Orihime, Chad and the woman were all protected by Orihime's Shun Shun Rika Shield. Ichigo, Rukia and Sara ran over to them. Ririn told them that she still detected the bount woman and began to run, but they were blocked by the man again. Once more, he unleashed a flurry of snakes. Ichigo began cutting them up with his zanpaktou, Chad began tearing them apart with his fist, Rukia was also fighting with her fists and Orihime was using her 6 flowers to fight.

"Guys! Whatever you do, do not freak out! Just concentrate on what you're doing!" Sara yelled. Ichigo and the others didn't understand what she meant by that, but it began apparent. Sara closed her eyes and her whole body went white. Then, when the light died down, they saw that Sara had transformed. She was now in the shape of a lion.

"Sara?" Ichigo exclaimed. Just then a snake attacked him from behind but he managed to defend himself in time.

"What did I just say!" she yelled. Her voice still sounded like her own. In her new form, she began to tear up the snakes with her fangs and claws. While she was doing it, she roared from time to time, giving no indication that she was a teenage girl inside the form of a lion. She transformed back to her normal soul form as they all grouped together after the first wave of attacks. He then performed a second wave, but they were taken out by Ururu. It turned out that Tessai, Jinta and Renji had also turned up, but the man still got away.

Back at Urahara's shop, everyone was upset that Uryu had just been snatched up. The group were eager to try and find him, but Urahara reminded them they had no where to start and no idea how capable they were. He also explained how they were initially interested in the bounts and the possibility that they could cause absolute mayhem for the Soul Society and the World of Living.

"But that won't happen unless we stop them right?" Urahara said. Everyone nodded their heads. "So why don't we all take a look at Sara's powers!" he said cheerfully.

"Wait a second! You mean right now?" she yelled.

"Come on you did promise me you would show it to me and I've been dying to see it!"

"You mean you're only interested in for your own gain!"

"Oh of course not where did you get that idea from?" he said jokingly.

"You are such a liar!" she yelled. Eventually her mood toned down and she let out a sigh. "Fine. I'll do it,"

"Excellent choice! Come on everyone let's get down to the training ground!" Urahara exclaimed.

"Since when was this an open invitation?" she yelled, her mood turning up again. She watched as Urahara sent everyone done. When she left the room she fell on her back. "Why did I decide to come back?" she asked herself exasperatedly.

"Oh Sara! We can't start without you!" Urahara called. She let out a moan.

"OK, here is how we are going to test you," Urahara said once they were all gathered in the training ground. "We'll set you up against various opponents and see where you rank in terms of strength," he explained.

"I'm sorry what?" she asked.

"Oh I get it! It's like a competition to see how high you can go!" Orihime exclaimed.

"More or less yes. Now, your first opponent will be Orihime. Then you'll move on to Chad. Next you'll go on to fight Renji. Then you'll be fighting Ichigo. And if you still manage to win…you'll be up against me," he explained.

"Fine. Let's do this," Sara replied.

"Hey Sara there's something I wanna ask you," Ichigo rose.

"What is it?" Sara questioned.

"Huh?" Urahara said looking at Ichigo.

"Back there. You mind telling us how you changed yourself, into a lion?" he asked.

"She did what?" Renji enquired.

"Oh yeah I forgot to mention that," Sara answered rubbing the back of her head. "As well as being able to use the four elements, I can also transform into the beats of those elements. For Earth the lion. For Water the shark. For Air the eagle. And for fire the dragon," she told them. They all looked dumbfounded. "You're doing it again! Quit looking at me like that!"

"Well, you sure are turning into quite an interesting person, Miss Kishi…But let's see if it's all worth it when it comes to fighting in a battle," Urahara said. He indicated for Orihime to join Sara out on the field. The group stood a fair distance away, not knowing her true strength.

"Just so you know Orihime, I don't tend to hold back,"

"Don't worry about it. Just do what you need to," Orihime answered. Sara nodded and turned into her soul form. They both took up their stances. "Tsubaki! Koten Zanshun! I reject!" Orihime yelled. Sara noticed the small arrow heading for her, but she didn't seem fazed at all. Sara lifted up her arm and swung it across her body. It performed a massive gust of wind, ending Tsubaki's attack. Orihime had to shield herself with her arms because of the massive force of wind. When it died down and Orihime opened her eyes, she couldn't see Sara.

"One thing you must learn about combat," Sara's voice came from behind Orihime. "Never let your opponents get behind you." Orihime looked round and saw Sara standing behind her with her dagger aimed at her head. Sara then put the dagger back in her holder.

"Wow! You're really good!" Orihime replied.

"OK, time for round 2. Orihime please come back here. Chad will now be your opponent!" Urahara called. Orihime left and Chad walked in the opposite direction. Eventually Chad stood opposite Sara.

"I just want you to know. I'm not like Orihime," Chad explained as he put his arm out and his right arm transformed. "Although I may not like this, I won't hesitate to come at you,"

"Good makes this more interesting," Sara replied a smirk on her face. Once again they took their stances. Chad was the one to pull of the first attack. As performed his attack, Sara disappeared from view. As the dust settled he saw that she was gone again. He had made sure that she wasn't behind him.

"Up here!" Sara called. She was directly above where she had been, flying higher. Chad look shocked. She had a grin on her face. She stopped going upwards and then put both of her arms in the air. Fire began to form above them, which then compressed into a ball. She then threw her arms down, directing the fireball straight at Chad. His eyes were full of surprise.

"Chad!" Ichigo called as the fire shrouded him from view.


	6. Sara Vs Chad and Renji

"Chad!" Ichigo yelled as he disappeared from view behind a wall of flames. Ichigo looked on with horror, thinking Sara had killed him. Just then, Chad shot out of the flames, running, and covered in scruffs. He looked beat up, but he also seemed to haves some fight in him left.

"Chad!" Orihime called. Chad stopped and tried to look for Sara. She was still floating in the sky. He launched an attack at her, but she dodged it like it was nothing. She then flew towards Chad like a bullet. He only just realised where she was when she was right in front of him. She kicked him in the stomach and sent him flying into a rock. Everyone stared on with amazement. When the dust settled Chad was lying on the ground below.

"Hey Chad are you okay?" Ichigo shouted.

"I think it's fair to say that he's done. Tessai! Could you fetch him? Renji you're up next!" Urahara said. Renji nodded. As Tessai managed to get Chad off the ground, Renji walked over to battle Sara. She flew down to the ground to restart the battle. "Renji! Just so you're aware, for this experiment, you're not allowed to use your bankai!" Urahara called.

"Why not!" Renji questioned.

"Since when is this an experiment?" Sara roared furiously.

"Since Ichigo has not regained his bankai, it'll be like going down a step if you use it and then Ichigo comes to fight Sara, provided of course that she can beat you that is," Urahara explained. Renji let out a sigh.

"Fine," Renji said. He looked up a Sara. She was already in a stance.

"Come on then! I want to see what the power of a Soul Reaper Lieutenant is like!" Sara stated with a grin on her face. It was apparent that she was looking forward to this fight.

"Don't get too excited. You might just find yourself in a world of pain," Renji claimed.

"We'll just see about that," she replied, her grin still on her face. Renji drew his sword.

"Roar, Zabimaru!" His blade changed shape. Sara looked on with interested.

"_So that's what his zanpaktou is like. From the looks of things, it has no particular special ability other than being a strong blade. This'll be easier than I thought,"_ she thought to herself. Renji let out a groan as he flung the blade at her. It swept round, stretching out. She managed to dodge it. However, Renji then instantly stretched out his sword so it flew up with her. Sara was surprised. She then looked at Renji; he had a bit of a smirk on his face. She then stretched out her hands, but they were not directed down to protect her. Instead they were aimed at Renji. He looked confused. But suddenly the rock behind him cam flying at him. He had to dodge it. His sword stopped the attack. Sara took advantage of the commotion and flew fast towards Renji. He managed to get his sword back together in order to stop Sara's fist. Each one of them put up an enormous force.

"_She has this kind of power in only one fist...? Of course, the way she uses the air around her to fly, it's probably what is giving her such a strong punch," _Renji overcame her and managed to send her backwards. She then flew back and raised her arm in the air.

"Ice shower!" she beckoned. A vast array of ice shards appeared above her. She swung her arm down across her and the shards were sent flying in Renji's path. He flash stepped out of the way, but he had to keep doing it in order to keep up with the vast number of shards that were trying to hit him. As soon as he was clear of the shower of ice, he continued to use the flash step in order to find a better place to attack from.

"Want to make this a game of speed?" Sara's voice came from behind him. He turned his head. She was keeping up with him and was looking him dead in the eyes. "Fine then!" Renji swung his sword, but she dodged and dramatically picked up speed. From were everyone else was standing, Sara wasn't disappearing and then reappearing like Renji was with his flash step. Instead she was becoming more and more like a blur. As she sped up she managed to fire a small fireball at Renji. It hit sending him flying. As he flew he shouted.

"Shakkahou!" The small red ball was aimed right at her. Sara's eyes widened but she managed to dodge it. She then flew a bit lower than Renji. She outstretched her arm and a couple of vines shout out. They wrapped around Renji's ankle. He looked shocked. She then screamed and started to swing him round in a circle. He was defenceless, the force being too great to get a clear view on the target. She did two full rotations before releasing him. He was sent into a rock. There was a loud crash as he hit it.

"Renji…" Ichigo muttered. He then looked at Sara. She looked a little worn out, but he was still surprised at how little she seemed tired. Everyone waited to see if Renji was OK. After a few moments, Renji reappeared. He was walking on the ground. He looked beat up. He had a few scratches and a tad bit of blood.

"Is that all you've got, huh?" Sara yelled.

"Don't get too damn cocky!" Renji roared. Sara made the first move. She held her arms in a cross across her body and then threw them down. Two slices of wind attacked Renji.

"_This is no ordinary wind. These are super sharp! If I didn't have my zanpaktou, I'd be sliced in half by that!" _Renji thought as he managed to block her attack. He then grunted as he threw his sword at her again. She simply dodged.

"Water slicer!" she barked as a slice of water, much like the wind she had thrown before, headed for Renji. He managed to doge it in time. He looked back at what damage it had done. It had cut straight through the rock like butter.

"_I see. So that attack is a beam of highly pressurised water. It's like that last attack. The soul purpose is to cut things in half with ease!" _he thought. They both went to the ground and eyed each other up again.

"You've got moves, I'll give you that, but tricks like that won't be enough to beat me," Renji stated.

"We'll just see what these so called 'tricks' can do!" she yelled. She closed her eyes and a white light was emitted. She was shrouded from view. But then everyone heard something vile. A roar, a roar like none they had ever heard. It was loud but it was also a piercing sound, as though it contained the very intent to kill. When the light died down. Everyone stood in amazement as what had happened. Sara had transformed, but this time not as a lion. No, this time she had transformed, into her dragon form. Everyone was shocked at what she had just performed. The dragon then roared again, the same piercing roar as before. It was so strong it started to make the air shake. She then rocked back her head and let out a massive wave of fire. It was large. Much larger than the one she had performed earlier on Chad. There was no escape for Renji. It was too late. He tried to defend against it, but it was fire, not something that could be stopped by any zanpaktou. Renji was engulfed in the flames. Everyone gasped. Sara then changed back into her normal armoured form. She didn't seem to have any regret in her eyes. After a few more seconds of waiting, Renji came spluttering out of the flames. He was beat up, badly. He didn't look like he had any strength left.

"Nice try, but I win," Sara said. Renji turned his head and saw she was looking past his shoulder. He then looked down and saw her knife pointed centimetres in front of his stomach. She then took it away and slid it back into her holder. Renji went onto one knee in exhaustion. Sara did the same behind him. The group all came rushing over.

"Renji! Sara!" Ichigo called. Just then Orihime released her Sōten Kisshun, and started to heal the both of them.

"Well, that was certainly an interesting match!" Urahara exclaimed.

"I'll say. The moocher got his butt kicked!" Jinta mocked.

"Oh shut up will you!" Renji retaliated. He felt pissed off. _"Damn it! Even without my bankai, I should have been able to beat her. She's a human with special abilities so she should have been like Chad, Uryu or Orihime…but this way too intense for that. I'd say that she was on the same skill level as Ichigo, maybe stronger. I don't believe that she could have got that strong without some sort of help, but..."_ He turned to look at her. _"Where on earth could she have gotten training that made her that strong? Hm…"_ Just then, Tessai came running over.

"What's up?" Urahara asked.

"I just got word that Uryu has appeared at the hospital," he answered.

"What?" Ichigo exclaimed.


End file.
